Power Rangers Beast Morphers Episode 18 Review: Ranger Reveal

The reason why Beast Morphers is one of the better recent seasons of Power Rangers? It's all down to the morals.

This Power Rangers Beast Morphers review contains spoilers.

Power Rangers Beast Morphers Episode 18

Power Rangers has come a long way in the past year. It’s easy for fans to declare Beast Morphers “better than Ninja Steel” but few explore why. Why is Beast Morphers more effective than Ninja Steel? What makes it more enjoyable to watch? Some may answer it has better characters, better fights, better source footage to work with. To a degree that’s all true but I’d argue the main difference that sets Beast Morphers apart? It isn’t filled with, at best, questionable morals.

If you go back to my Ninja Steel and Super Ninja Steel reviews I was… let’s just say overly critical of the seasons. They certainly had issues but in some places I went too hard. One thing I still stand by though is my critique of the show’s moral core. It was blatantly conservative in all the worst ways when Power Rangers has traditionally leaned into more progressive values. I’m not talking about economic policies or anything here, but Ninja Steel felt mean spited. Conform to society or you’re punished, is what it seemed to say in multiple episodes.

This makes ‘Ranger Reveal’ all the better because it tackles a similar moral to Ninja Steel but handles it far better. ‘Fan Frenzy‘ was a rare instance of Ninja Steel acknowledging Levi’s fame but it needlessly painted Levi as being wrong for wanting some distance from an overzealous fan.

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While this episode switches it up, it’s the Rangers interacting with a famous person, it drives home the lesson that famous people deserve space. You don’t have the right to demand their time solely because you’re a fan of their work. They should be allowed to set the time and place when they have to interact with so many people.

It’s a joy that we get a scene of the Rangers actually discussing whether they’d like to be famous, one I wish was longer. It perfectly fits that Devon would want to be famous; he probably follows a ton of famous video game streamers. We even get Steel wanting to be famous and have his own cooking show! The little running gag of him wanting to discuss eating with Nate was perfect. These little bits tie into the plot, theme, and let us know more about them.

The episode is let down a bit that none of the Rangers learn the lesson about fame directly. Yeah, they see through Nikki that fame is hard but it could have been more effective if Zoey was a huge fan of Nikki and overstepped her bounds at one point. Instead the lesson of the episode sort of becomes that Zoey’s mom should respect the Ranger’s privacy. It’s confusing that our lead characters aren’t the ones learning the lesson but the general intent is still good, even if it would have been more powerful coming from a Ranger. Probably has something to do with the Rangers not being allowed to come off too badly.

Even so, this does lead to Zoey’s mom apologizing to her daughter, which is another great moral. Parents can mess up and admit it to their kids, it’s okay!

This is what makes Beast Morphers so much better than Ninja Steel. It’s the commitment to instilling progressive morals in its audience. Yes, the overall show could still use some improvements but with that basic building block in place? Anything is possible for the show.

Keep up with all our Power Rangers Beast Morphers news and reviews here!

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Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter! He also co-hosts a Robotech podcast, which covers the original series and the new comics. Give it a listen! Read more articles by him here!

Rating:

3.5 out of 5